Clipped Wings
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: Tsuna heard everyone has a breaking point. However, until he stepped into a dark, dreary cell and heard the high-pitched chirping, he had never thought it applied to Hibari-san. Darkfic, implied D18. Broken Skylark 'verse.


Diclaimer: I don't own the characters or the series. Amano Akira does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

WARNING: Darkfic. Potentially disturbing imagery.

A/N: Sequel to to _Blood-stained Feathers_, prequel to _Death of the Skylark_.

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Clipped Wings

"Every man has his breaking point."

Someone, probably Reborn, had said that once. Tsuna had mainly ignored it back then, and when he later thought back to it, he simply assumed it referred to their enemies. After all, there were men who were surely impossible to break. Reborn himself, for one, or Kyoko-san's big brother. Or, perhaps above all others, Hibari-san.

Hibari-san was a man who had earned both Tsuna's fear and respect. He was slightly afraid of his volatile guardian, yes, but he had also come to trust on Hibari to show up just as he was needed, solving all the problems with little more than a sneer and perhaps some condescending comment how it all should have been easy to handle even without him, really now, Vongola. And Tsuna would smile and nod and be relieved.

He was no more afraid of sending Hibari to do anything. After all, there was nothing that could harm Hibari. Not permanently, anyway. Temporary scrapes were the most even the most powerful enemies seemed capable of inflicting on him; even if there had been heavier damage, Hibari would have surely born it all without a blink before rising to overpower his opponent again.

This was why he first failed to worry as Hibari was reported missing after a fairly routine mission. Then, he wasn't the only one. Kusakabe seemed sure everything was all right, nothing could be wrong with the great Kyou-san after all, he'd just decided it was beneath him to make contact when agreed and Kusakabe had just thought to inform the boss that no information had yet been received. If anyone knew Hibari, it was Kusakabe. If he didn't worry, nobody else had any reason to.

The unexplained absence stretched on. Nobody still worried overly much. It wasn't that unusual for Hibari to simply disappear for a while when he felt the Family was becoming too much of a crowd. He'd be back eventually, probably just as they were in the middle of some horrible pinch, if only to be able to flaunt his own superiority all over again.

This was exactly why Tsuna found deep-etched guilt and regret fighting for the top spot in his heart along with shock as the united Vongola-Cavallone assault force invaded and took over the enemy headquarters and found one of the cell doors in the dungeon marked with naught but a crudely scratched mark of the Vongola cloud symbol on the cold iron surface.

The door was broken down immediately, everyone crowding the shadowed doorway. At first they didn't see anything in the darkness of the room, lacking even a window, and dread clutched Tsuna's heart as he called out, "Hibari-san?"

There was a momentary silence. Then, they heard a high-pitched chirping, a bit scratchier than usual but still so very familiar, chanting back, "Hi-ba-ri! Hi-ba-ri!"

Tsuna sighed in relief as he rushed into the room, his other guardians right at his heels. However, as he raised his flaming hand to illuminate the room, he swallowed. There was no yellow puff flying overhead, no lean, dark form of a man standing quietly in a corner or lying relaxed on the floor, giving him an annoyed glance and a casual threat for daring to interrupt his nap. Instead, what he saw was a pale, half-naked shape curled up in one corner, blood and bruises discolouring the scarred skin. His legs seemed to bend all wrong, arms drawn close to the skinny chest to shelter something small and vaguely yellow.

"...Hibari-san?" He crouched down to get a closer look at the battered man. Even he with his limited experience could tell at a glance that the usually so deft, slim fingers had been broken ruthlessly and very much purposefully, unable to hold the usually so lethal tonfas, unable to even cradle his precious pet properly. His legs had apparently been hurt somehow, too. Doubtlessly to stop his escape, or even moving. He was fairly sure a human leg was simply not supposed to bend like that. He still couldn't see Hibari's face, though, hanging down as it was, hidden behind a curtain of black hair.

"Hi-ba-ri!" announced Hibird's voice again. "Hibari hurt. Blood, blood. Hibari go sleep?"

Tsuna fought against nausea as he realized the yellow puff held within pale arms had not moved, and the voice was most definitely not coming from it. "...Hibari-san, look at me." Another swallow. "...Hibird?"

Finally, the head was lifted, revealing a thin face, bruises and scratches unable to conceal the familiar features. Empty eyes stared at him blankly as the chapped lips parted again, chirping in that same high voice. "Hibari go sleep?" the tortured man asked again, wearily, eerily close to the voice of his dear companion. "Be quiet. Blood, blood."

"...Yes. Hibari go sleep," Tsuna whispered even as others rushed past him to assess the damage done, to tend the worst of the wounds before actual medical help arrived and to see if he could safely be moved. Tsuna himself felt frozen, staring. Carefully, he reached out a hand to touch the little yellow mess of feathers held so carefully within emaciated arms. He wasn't surprised to find that the only warmth left was that radiating from Hibari's own, feverish body.

For once he would have been glad to be wrong as the doctors confirmed his initial assessment. Both the fingers and legs had been broken multiple times, partly healed in all the wrong ways. It would take a while and a lot of effort to get them back into proper shape, and even then, it was doubtful he'd ever regain the former mobility and strength. Not that this was the main problem, anyway. Whatever it was that had happened to Hibari, whatever was hidden behind all the physical injuries and matted hair and the little bird that just wouldn't breathe, had quite obviously damaged the aloof Cloud Guardian's mind.

The skylark's wings had been clipped, in more ways than one.

"He wouldn't let us take Hibird away," murmured Dino as Tsuna asked him for a damage report, fidgeting in the sterile hallway of an eerily quiet hospital. "Of course, he really couldn't hold on... we couldn't let him keep it, it's just not healthy in any sense of the word." Dino looked suddenly much, much older than his years. Tsuna had seen him go through several battles before, yet this one was apparently the one that affected him the deepest yet. "...We got a yellow toy bird, and switched them while he slept," he added in a murmur. "He probably can't tell the difference when he wakes up."

"Of course he can." Tsuna was probably trying to convince himself more than Dino. "He's Hibari-san. He'd know Hibird even among hundreds of other birds."

"Tsuna," said Dino, and his voice sounded just as pained as Tsuna felt right now, "Kyouya currently thinks he is Hibird."

"Surely there is something we can do," Tsuna murmured. "Surely there is something..."

"Maybe. Or maybe not. The human mind is a delicate thing, Tsuna. Sometimes it can take an awful lot of burden and snap right back, like a rubber band... but sometimes, it will shatter into shards so small, it's impossible to put back together."

"We have to at least try," Tsuna whispered, hanging his head. "We can't not try... It's Hibari-san. Of course he will get better."

"Of course we'll try, Tsuna. And you're right, he's Kyouya. For all we know, he'll be back on his feet tomorrow, demanding to know who has been wasting his time and where his weapons and pet are." Dino's smile lacked any kind of humour or mirth, though. "In the meantime, we'll just have to keep him away from the roof, lest he decide to try to fly."

At the time Tsuna nodded wordlessly, doing his best to be strong for his Family, for his big brother, for Hibari-san. He was the boss, he had to be strong. He had to trust that his guardian would come back from wherever he had closed himself into to escape the horrors he'd faced, stronger and fiercer than ever.

Though maybe, he still found himself thinking as time dragged on, as autumn and winter went by and the next spring found Hibari staring at sakura blossoms with a mixture of awe and fear in his eyes, clutching the lifeless toy bird to his chest and quietly singing the Namimori Middle School anthem in a high-pitched, empty voice, maybe it would have been more merciful to have simply allowed him to fly away.


End file.
